xix, 370 pages ; 24 cm

By the time the United States officially entered World War II, more than half of American anthropologists were using their professional knowledge and skills to advance the war effort. The range of their war-related work was extraordinary. They helped gather military intelligence, pinpointed possible social weaknesses in enemy nations, and contributed to the Army's regional Pocket Guide booklets. They worked for dozens of government agencies, including the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Office of War Information. At a moment when social scientists are once again being asked to assist in military and intelligence work, David H. Price examines anthropologists' little-known contributions to the Second World War. Anthropological Intelligence is based on interviews with anthropologists as well as extensive archival research involving many Freedom of Information Act requests. Price looks at the role played by the two primary U.S. anthropological organizations, the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology (which was formed in 1941), in facilitating the application of anthropological methods to the problems of war. He chronicles specific projects undertaken on behalf of government agencies, including an analysis of the social effects of postwar migration, the design and implementation of OSS counterinsurgency campaigns, and the study of Japanese social structures to help tailor American propaganda efforts. Price discusses anthropologists' work in internment camps, their collection of intelligence in Central and South America for the FBI's Special Intelligence Service, and their help forming foreign language programs to assist soldiers and intelligence agents. Evaluating the ethical implications of anthropological contributions to World War II, Price suggests that by the time the Cold War began, the profession had set a dangerous precedent regarding what it would be willing to do on behalf of the U.S. government. -- Publisher's Description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 317-352) and index

American anthropology and the War to End All Wars -- Professional associations and the scope of American anthropology's wartime applications -- Allied and Axis anthropologies -- The war on campus -- American anthropologists join the Wartime Brain Trust -- Anthropologists and White House war projects -- Internment fieldwork : anthropologists and the war relocation authority -- Anthropology and Nihonjinron at the Office of War Information -- Archaeology and J. Edgar Hoover's Special Intelligence Service -- Culture at war : weaponizing anthropology at the OSS -- Postwar ambiguities : looking backward at the war

David H. Price is a Professor of anthropology at St. Martin's University in Lacey, Washington. He has conducted cultural anthropological and archaeological fieldwork and research in the United States and Palestine, Egypt and Yemen. He is a Pacific Northwest native, a founding member of the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, and a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. He has written an historical trilogy examining American anthropologists' interactions with intelligence agencies. The first book, Anthropological Intelligence: The Use and Neglect of American Anthropology in the Second World War, (2008, Duke) documents anthropological contributions to the Second World War. The second volume, Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI's Persecution of Activist Anthropologists (2004, Duke), examines McCarthyism's effects on anthropologists. The final volume, Cold War Anthropology: The CIA, the Pentagon and the Growth of Dual Use Anthropology (Duke 2016), explores anthropologists interactions with the CIA and Pentagon during the Cold War. His book Weaponizing Anthropology: Social Science in Service of the Militarized State (2011, CounterPunch Books) critically examines current trends in the militarization of anthropology and American universities

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